Kinda like a floormat, but it's permanent
 

Soooo, Been working on this area for the past week and not wanting to post it up because many of you will confuse it for 'slathering a bunch of goo on the floors to fix them'. I have been fixing the rust holes in my floor which are far between and no more that a half inch across. I cut out the rusty areas and welded in new sections of metal. The steel is heavy gauge and was from two sources... The first a 35 mph speed limit sign from before they were aluminum, and secondly a large section of an industrial circuit breaker panel. What I have here is a molded in floor mat. It's almost like a mud flap bonded to the truck's floor. Keep in mind I have a very noisy cummins diesel conversion and want it as quiet as possible in the cab. After the welding was completed, I washed the already ground and faired in steel with some acid wash left over from my gas tank lining job. Then when dry I painted the whole floor with rustoleum red primer. Now the good part.... To this day I have used 16 tubes of sikaflex polyurethane marine adhesive which I have used for over 20 yesrs and sticks like mad to properly prepared steel surfaces. The sikaflex was alternated with fiberglass window screen as reinforcement. I filled in the ribs in the floor with cypress wood planed to 1/4" and fully immersed in the sikaflex. This gave a flat floor for the screen /sikaflex matrix. OK, so maybe many of you are wondering why this 'nut' would do all this to a floor of a fridge truck....... I have owned about 30 or so old trucks over the years and with very few exceptions, upon lifting the floor mats, one would see a rusty mess of jute backing under a rubber mat and holes and wetness that never evaporated long after the rain that got in had stopped. You lucky guys from Nevada and other DRY areas haven't suffered this woe, but believe me, it is a reality. I keep my trucks under cover and my windshields sealed, but it's just a pet peave of mine. I run my other old trucks with NO floor mat at all, just for this reason. I have never bought a floor mat with all the money I have spent over the years on trucks. In this particular project I don't feel I want to go 'matless' because of the noise and heat of the diesel. I honestly believe that if water ever enters the cab of my '59, it will sit on top of my bonded floor and I also feel that with the density of my new mat, the noise and heat level will be diminished with my formed in place permanent floor mat and noise repeller. I will not post a picture yet because it's not done. In the final coat I'm thinking I might use a notched trowel and make it actually look like a floor mat...... And if that aint hillbilly, I'll...., oh never mind

Well now Gary theres the problem. You gotta leave em outside on one of those 360 days of the year that it aint rainin when the humidity is in the single digits and it will dry right out.
Need any more help, just let me know.

Holy **** single digits? I bet spray paint dries in the air if you are more than 8" away.

This is odd but interesting. Subscribed ! :)

I pride myself on being odd. It's not so bad once you get used to it!

Hey, H-Billy is a living legend!!!! Isn't he the guy who talked Henry Ford into building his 1st car in the kitchen?????

I thought the original hillbilly was makin' corn liquor in the kitchen. The ford came later so he could outrun them 'revenooers'. Here's how todays h-billies fix their floors...... There is a large flat folded seam where the front of the cab floor meets the firewall. In my project I have termed it the 'mud shelf'. On my '59 this area was filled in solid with mud, which in my climate would remain wet all winter, trappin the moisture against the steel. Modern trucks have no places for mud to collect in the fender areas. The automakers have created flush seams filled with modern sealants, not to mention plastic fender liners and multiple dips and primers for the entire body. Today's bodies are quite thin, but let's face it, they last way longer in mud and salt conditions. So, the first area I addressed in my floor repair was the mud shelf. This is where the worst rust out was in my cab. I cleaned it to bare metal and tack welded a piece of 1/8 x 1 1/2 steel strap. The new steel spanned created a triangular 'box section' which is not only strong, but sheds water, mud etc. Next I went inside the cab and drilled a series of 1/4" holes on about 3" centers throught the floor into the back side of my triangular section. I painted all of this new structure with rustoleum primer inside and out while it was still warm from the welding. Next I inserted the sikaflex caulking tube into the 1/4" holes, filling the section til the stuff (picture stringy toothpaste) oozed from the gaps between the tack welds and pooched out of the next hole down the line. The welds were to clean solid metal and the strength was regained. The side towards the wheel was faired out with the sikaflex and along with reinforcing sections I welded into the front cab corners, I'm satisfied this will last as long as me. The sikaflex isn't cheap at about 10 bucks a tube, but a reproduction floor mat is 150.00 and new floor sections would have been about 250.00 or so, and then the rusting process would begin again, just like before. This took one afternoon for the stage I have described here. Once again, just my odd way of fixin' stuff. Not saying better or worse than staying original.

Gary that looks like it should work well. Good idea boxing that ledge in!

That ought to make her last a little bit longer! :-X22

Here's what that area looked like before the fix.......

GB, I'm really interested in how this turns out for you, especially the noise dampening. Currently my truck's cab is noisy, almost need earplugs on the freeway kinda noisy!

By the way, where do you get your hands on this silk-a-flex stuff? Sounds like some handy stuff to have around!

Sam

Since I live on an island I get the Sikaflex at my local hardware store. Most people here have a boat so it sells pretty well. I looked at a tube and it's made in New Jersey and they have a website sikaindustry.com. I prefer the #291 product as it's faster curing (still about a day). I finished up my floor yesterday. I feel it is very well adhered and a tough coating, but being so stringy it's hard to get a smooth finish. All the trowel marks showed as it doesn't level out. It's about like frosting a cake. I got it pretty smooth, but in the end I was at my napa store and looking at the herculon roll on bed liner. The solvent and ingredients looked the same so I did my last coat with that. It has ground up rubber chunks, but it evened up the floor and made it look way better. Now I might send a picture in tomorrow. Haven't got the trans cover quite done so don't know the noise factor yet. Lots to do still before I can get the front clip back on and take a legal ride with some distance.

Into The Mastic
 

Couple of progress pics. Floor done and front cab corners welded in and sealed, first with primer them rubberized polyurethane undercoat. I think the sikaflex, the herculiner and this undercoat are all the same stuff in different viscosities. Surface prep and cleanliness along with some 'tooth' are key in this kind of application. You will note a 1/2" bolt sticking down from my front cab mount. That's because I welded 1/2" nut to a large washer and inverted it into the round floor recess in the floor pan, then welded the washer around the perimeter. This helped to maintain the flat floor and created a captive nut situation for the cab mount, JIC some next generation guy wanted to remove the cab. Yes, I put never-sieze on the bolt threads ;), and it's just a temporary filler.

GB if I could say in my best hickaneese. I like your island-billy style of get-er done, we don't needed no stinkin floor mats!
I think the floor is going to outlast you, and the rest of the truck.
Nice job.